Green Valley to Bellingham WA

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So, we pulled out of GV just about an hour late and headed for Payson AZ for our 1^stday out. The truck, as usual, performed really well except for our brakes. They began to chatter at low speeds and then increased to anytime. Since we had just had them serviced, we got a bit nervous. Good thing we have an electronic exhaust brake or we would have been in some real trouble. We overnited in an NF campground and left early the next day.



We got as far as Camp Verde and, electronic brake or not, we had a problem. Stopped at the Ford dealer and met a service tech from Seattle. The brakes had over 100 K miles and the rotors were not just warped but gone. Ok, just $500 bucks and a lot of stories about the NW of the USA later and we were up and out of there. Wait till we get home and talk to Jesse Luna.



On to Utah and fishing. We stopped in Escalante and bought fishing lic’s. and got directions for “Posey Lake”…just about 18 miles by dirt forest road up to 8600 feet elevation. The lady at the BLM info desk said it was a great lake to fish but just a little early in the season. “Might get a bit cold up there”. Huh!



The FS road was dry and really easy ie: no 4wd. Campsite was beautiful and just $5 a night for old farts like us. The next day we caught 4 trout…eating size…but the rain began to come in. By 9AM the next day there was ice on the table, it was raining off and on and 30MPH winds. Reading took the place of fishing except for Mikes 3 mile hike. The last day, Mike fished in cold and wind and caught 8 more. Fun but BRRRrrrr! Memorial day was over and we could now safely resume our journey north.



For the next 8-10 days we drifted north through high mountain passes and recently cleared hiways. As we entered Uinta NF in N. Utah, we talked with some locals about fishing. The woman just smiled and said “you can try but the lakes are still frozen and the road only cleared yesterday. And, oh yes, the campgrounds won’t open for 2 weeks.” At 10700’ we saw what she meant. We encountered over 6’ of snow that had not yet melted. Moving on to Montana, Wyoming and BC with much the same results at high altitudes. No fishing even at lo alt. as the rivers were overflowing and muddy…so were the lakes. We were just too early. At least we missed broiling in GV.



We decided to cross into BC for a day or 2 and then reenter Washington State at Osoyoos and cross the North Cascades pass (if it was open) to Bellingham. Problem was that the road didn’t go that way unless we went further north so we crossed back in just above Spokane and then headed for the Pass.



What a welcome home we had. The pass was not just open but sunny and the view was spectacular. The photos and, hopefully videos, can speak for themselves. Spent almost a week in B’ham at our friends house. Visted with friends, went to a highland fling...kilts and bagpipes galore, ate good Greek Food at our favorite restaurant and got things packed and ready to go. Oh yeah...and fixed a computer problem that really shook us....thanks to Jen at Waycross investments for saving us. Our friend Sharon kindly took us to the airport in Vancouver for our flight to Europe. We got off on time.



Sorry this has been so long in the sending but our access to the internet/wifi was slim to nothing and slim was hardly ever where we were .

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